September Sunset #4

Dip pen, ink and watercolor

Another beautiful sunset before the rain sets in for four days. The days are getting shorter and cooler, but I'm not giving up my flip flops, yet. The colors are becoming quite a bit darker and foliage is starting to dot the landscape. The sun has moved in the sky from the first one I did a few weeks ago.

Sunset gathering spot—Munjoy Hill overlooking the Back Cove in Portland Maine

There is usually a flurry of activity for the 30 minutes I am drawing and painting the changes in light and color that are happening so quickly. The decision to choose and place colors comes with water splashing and paint flying. I do not always make the best choice, but I just keep painting until the sun has set. Sometimes the colors bleed and then I get mud and then I get mad and then I exclaim...sometimes under my breath and sometimes a little louder...

It is always so much fun and I look forward to the next one.

Beautiful September days

Dip pen, brush pen and watercolor

My good friend Patti and I took a 10 mile walk along the bluffs and beaches in Scarborough Maine. At the end of Scarborough Beach (the 5 mile halfway point) was this wonderful found object beach sculpture shack.

Dip pen, ink and watercolor

Another evening of sunset watching/sketching. I clearly do not enjoy the quickly changing beauty as much as the rest of the people that are just watching—I'm painting as fast as I can. Trying to keep up with the changes in light and color, realizing the paint is too wet and blending together and then, oh my god it has set! After the sun is gone and it is getting dark, I sometimes reflect...did I really see it?

Sunset—September 20,2012

Dip pen and ink, watercolor, the sun and the moon

I'm painting as fast as I can! 

A friend called to catch the sunset last night. As I hesitated, I was reminded that in a few months from now the sun will be setting a 4:15 pm and it will be bitter cold.

A big crowd of people were enjoying watching the sun go from bright yellow to blood orange to hot pink as it dipped below the horizon over the western mountains of Maine and New Hampshire. Not quite as relaxing for me...paint was flying everywhere as I frantically tried to capture it before it set.

After the sun disappeared behind the mountains and I put my sketchbook on the ground to dry, the sky turned cerulean blue with big pale pink clouds. The almost first quarter moon was heading east across the sky and glowing bright white from the light of the sun. The beauty unfolding before me took my breath away!!! 

Watching the sunset—September 16, 2012

 Ink and watercolor in Molesine Watercolor journal

 The perfect ending to the most beautiful weekend—warm, sunny and crystal clear.

Ink, watercolor and Neocolor II

Practicing from a black and white photo.

Last days of summer

Sadly, summer in Maine is waning. The light is changing and the shadows getting longer. On this morning's Sophie walk along the waterfront, I needed a jacket. 

Lately my sketchbook gets stuffed into my bag only to to lay unopened at the bottom...never seems to be any time as we enjoy the last of these wonderful warm summer days.

 Sunflower bouquet from the market down the street.

My friend Suma CM and her husband Michael came to Maine on a holiday a few weeks ago. After lunch, Michael went on a bike ride and Suma and I went off to sketch. We sat against a building sketching the lobster boats in back of Custom House Wharf just across from where I live. I used a dip pen and ink. Of course it became a mess—ink all over. You can see Suma's sketch here.

 Out for dinner with my friends Mary and Liza at the East Ender Cafe. This is beautiful Liza.

Dinner at a friend's house. The hydrangeas and some other unidentifiable flowers were wilting in a vase of greenish water, but the tomatoes and green pole beans were fresh from the garden and "delish". Lucky me, I got to take home a bounty of these delicious green beans and tomatoes of all varieties that have taken over the garden (along with the weeds).